Training

Your lungs are on fire. Everything hurts. Your eyes sting with salt. Your mouth tastes sweat- blood? and your spit is dry. Over the sound of your ragged gasps, you hear the whistle go- damn that whistle- and you step onto the mat once again. You slap hands with your opponent, a quick, friendly facsimile of the handshake you would give in an actual match, and begin to wrestle. Feinting, weaving, clasping arms, slapping heads, trying to find an opening, then the explosion, a sudden vicious blast of energy- a scramble perhaps, wild and spectacular, if the first attack misses, with others turning their heads to watch the action, and one of you is down and the other is on top, squeezing the ribs, struggling to gain back points and, more important, regain your breath...

Wrestling practices have been savage here in South Africa (not that they were easy back home either). South Africans wrestle a very "American" style, constant leg attacks, shot after shot after shot. A methodical (or "stalling" or "lazy") wrestler like myself rarely has time to set up for an attack before the onslaught comes. Lucklily, this provides many openings for counter attacks. You wouldn't believe how vulnerable these guys are do a simple waist lock throw.

At our club we spend most of our time on conditioning, which is quickly beating me into shape, though I wish we would spend more time refining technique- what good is it to be fresh for 10 minutes, if a more techincal opponent can pick you apart in 6? Anyway, I'm enjoying myself when I'm not leaning over wanting to vomit.

The car registration saga is still an expensive gong show, and I will refrain from comenting until it has resolved itself. It struck me yesterday,along with the toys the 4 year old kid was tossing at my head, that maybe I'm meant to learn humility and patience from this stuff. I decided I don't want to learn humility and patience, I want to learn victory and sucess and life-changing miracles... does anyone ever learn valuable lessons through wealth, or winning, things going smoothly? If so, sign me up. And yes, I'm fully aware of the irony of complaining about a car while the people I want to help are wrestling with drug abuse, HIV, shootings and so on.